Foundation Subjects

Science

At Christ Church Primary School we aim to support children in developing the skills and knowledge they need to understand the world around them.

Throughout their primary school education children need to begin to be able to ask questions and formulate ideas about everyday things they observe. They need to learn investigation skills so they can test their ideas in a systematic manner. It is important that children learn to make careful and thoughtful observations and that they are able to communicate their thoughts and findings clearly.

Children are encouraged to work individually, in pairs and small groups to investigate natural phenomenon to make sense of the world we live and to enhance their natural curiosity.

Children learn about our bodies, studying the human skeleton, teeth and our senses and other forms of life such as plants and animals. They work with different materials learning to classify and compare. Physical processes such as electricity, light and sound are investigated and children practise sharing their growing knowledge in different ways.

Art and DT link with science habitats for spiders and bigger animals too!

Science Week

This is what happened during Science Week!

PSHE and Healthy Schools

PSHE and Healthy Schools underpins all that goes on at Christ Church School. We never rest and we strive to always listen to pupils, governors and staff to create a healthy and happy school.

Christ Church is proud to have achieved the Bronze London Healthy Schools Award. This recognises our work to promote healthy lifestyle choices from EYFS through to Year 6.

Learning about healthy eating is embedded in the September 2014 curriculum through our Science and Design & Technology schemes of work. Children are rewarded for their healthy choices at lunchtime and we encourage all children in KS2 to bring fruit to eat at break time.

HOWEVER, Healthy Schools is more than just healthy eating! The school is proud have an all-weather surface for use at playtimes and PE lessons, plus before and after school clubs. This facility allows the children to get active all year round, regardless of the weather! The promotion of the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils is threaded throughout the school curriculum. The PSHE curriculum is based around JIGSAW. We supplement this with other resources to help ensure that all children receive a rounded curriculum and develop into positive citizens as they grow and leave the school.

Music

Music in the school is highly valued as we give our children a wide variety of musical genres to listen to and engage with though our regular whole school worships and singing assemblies. In their own classrooms, pupils have regular music lessons where they learn about the language of music, compose their own music and perform both their own and others compositions.

Christ Church has a very popular KS2 choir and a KS1 choir for our younger children. To develop their musicianship and promote singing confidence, the KS2 choir performs locally to engage audiences throughout the year. 

Individual instrumental lessons are run through the Kingston Music Service including instruments from the woodwind, brass and string families including the guitar. Also as part of Kingston Music Service wider opportunities programme, all year four pupils have the opportunity to learn a brass instrument or a clarinet. Through these lessons, children have the opportunity to challenge themselves by undertaking practical music examinations with ABRSM.

Year five participate in the London Young Voices Festival, performing with other children from around London at the O2 arena.

As part of the Posada Procession around the classrooms during Advent, Mary, Joseph and Donkey listened to guitar music in Key stage 2.

Kingston Music Service Music Lesson

Kingston Music Service (KMS) provides instrumental and vocal music lessons to young people in Kingston’s schools and music centres.

The service runs a range of music ensembles to support young peoples musical journey and enable they to play with other young musicians. 

For more information about our services and to apply for lessons please visit our website below

https://www.kingston.gov.uk/info/200176/kingston_music_servic

• Kingston Music Service Leaflet

Modern Foreign Languages

At Christ Church, all children can enjoy learning French from Year 1 through to Year 6. As well as the language itself, children also learn about the culture and the importance of all languages. Developing children’s intercultural understanding is one of the main objectives of modern foreign languages at primary school. Early experience of other languages can give children a better chance of gaining future qualifications as well as helping them to communicate and relate to people from other cultures.

French lessons at Christ Church involve lots of active learning through a variety of activities, including songs, role play and games, which aim to develop confidence and enjoyment of learning a foreign language. Children initially focus on developing their speaking and listening skills, then later in Year 3, children begin to learn to recognise the written language and then develop their writing skills. Wherever possible, links are made with other areas of the curriculum. The children are informally assessed at the end of Year 6 and their levels are passed onto secondary schools so their achievement can be recognised and built upon.

We celebrated our learning with a French Day July.  We held a mini Tour de France, imitated the work of some famous French artists, built the Eiffel Tower with various materials and even opened a French café!

Can you guess the French artist we are thinking about?

All in red, white and blue

Our French Café where our visitors tasted some delicious food.

The café kitchen and some café customers!

Building the Eiffel Tower!

Can you guess which French artists these remind you of?

History

There are many and varied history topics covered in Christ Church.

Year 1: Toys, Remembrance (Guy Fawkes & Armistice Day) and Castles.
Year 2: Significant People, Great Fire of London and History of space and space travel.
Year 3: Stone Age and Ancient Egyptians.
Year 4: Celts and Romans and Saxons.
Year 5: Vikings and Ancient Greece.
Year 6: Victorians and Mayan Civilisation.

Please note that although history is not taught as a separate subject in Reception pupils are encouraged to learn about their own lives, their families and those of others in the past.

History at Christ Church provides stimulating examples of people and events from Britain’s past and that of the wider world which excites children’s curiosity. In history, children will broaden their historical knowledge, as well as develop their historical skills to compare and evaluate sources, evidence and opinions. The pupils are immersed in a topic through a variety of teaching and learning styles, as well as through the use of cross curricular methods i.e. through DT, science, geography etc. To enhance the learning experience, Christ Church organises a variety of workshops, museum /specialist visits and history days throughout the school.

Castle week - Year 1

Great Fire of London - Year 2

Ancient Egypt Day - Year 3

Hooke Court - Year 4

Vikings – Year 5

Victorian Day – Year 6

Geography

Geography teaches an understanding of people, places and, increasingly importantly, environments. Through their work in geography, children learn about their local area and compare their life in this area with that in other regions in the United Kingdom and in the rest of the world. They learn how to draw and interpret maps and they develop the skills of research, investigation, analysis and problem-solving. Through their growing knowledge and understanding of human geography, children gain an appreciation of life in other cultures. Geography teaching also motivates children to find out about the physical world and enables them to recognise the importance of sustainable development for the future of mankind.

We use a variety of teaching and learning styles in our geography lessons. We use whole-class teaching methods and we combine these with enquiry-based research activities. We encourage children to ask as well as answer geographical questions. We offer them the opportunity to use a variety of data, such as maps, statistics, graphs, pictures, and aerial photographs, and we enable them to use IT in geography lessons where this serves to enhance their learning. Children take part in role-play and discussions, and they present reports to the rest of the class. They engage in a wide variety of problem-solving activities. Wherever possible, we involve the children in ‘real’ geographical activities, e.g. research of a local environmental problem or use of the Internet to investigate a current issue.

Year 6

Year 3

Global Citizenship

The children are part of a complex and fast moving world. Geography is concerned with the study of places, the human and physical processes which shape them, and the people who live in them. Geography helps children to make sense of their immediate surroundings and the wider world. Our aim is to encourage in children a commitment to sustainable development and an appreciation of what ‘global citizenship’ means. As global citizens in the 21st century their understanding and empathy with their fellow world citizens will play a vital part in shaping their lives.

We have a link school partner in Africa, in Malawi. Christ Church School is linked with Chikuyakuti School, 30 miles from the capital Lilongwe. African Vision (formerly The Landirani Trust) is a local charity, based in Surbiton, it looks after and feeds 3,000 orphans in Malawi.

Its aims are to:

• Promote educational facilities for all children in the community
• Enhance the ability of the community to become self-sufficient
• Ensure care of orphans and vulnerable people affected by HIV/AIDS
• Provide fresh water and sanitation

Our link has been set up by African Vision. The schools write to each other regularly and exchange news and teaching ideas. Twice a year representatives from African Vision take letters and gifts to each of the schools. We are all learning together and the children really value and enjoy our link with a school in another part of the world. We use our link school as a focus for fundraising. In 2017 we raised money for for our link school to buy much needed resources for their classrooms. Last year we funded the refurbishment of the toilet facilities and resources for PE lessons by raising around £3,000 from mufti days, cake sales and the collection at the Year 4 Easter Show. The picture below shows the type of water harvesters we previously purchased for Chikuyakuti School.

Christ Church Computing

Our purpose of study is to provide a high-quality computing education which equips pupils to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world. Computing has deep links with mathematics, science, and design and technology, and provides insights into both natural and artificial systems.

The core of computing is computer science, in which pupils are taught the principles of information and computation, how digital systems work, and how to put this knowledge to use through programming. Building on this knowledge and understanding, pupils are equipped to use information technology to create programs, systems and a range of content.

Computing also ensures that pupils become digitally literate – able to use, and express themselves and develop their ideas through, information and communication technology – at a level suitable for the future workplace and as active participants in a digital world.

The national curriculum for computing aims to ensure that all pupils:

• can understand and apply the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science, including abstraction, logic, algorithms and data representation
• can analyse problems in computational terms, and have repeated practical experience of writing computer programs in order to solve such problems
• can evaluate and apply information technology, including new or unfamiliar technologies, analytically to solve problems
• are responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information and communication technology.

National Curriculum programmes of study:

Computing Key stages 1 and 2

In Reception children seek to acquire basic skills in turning on and operating some ICT equipment. They operate mechanical toys, e.g. turns the knob on a wind-up toy or pulls back on a friction car. Staff ensure that children have the opportunity to incorporate technology resources that children recognise into their play, such as a camera and provide safe equipment to play with, such as torches, transistor radios or karaoke machines. Children are also able to use machines like a photocopier to copy their own pictures.

Key Stage 1

Pupils are taught to:

• understand what algorithms are; how they are implemented as programs on digital devices; and that programs execute by following precise and unambiguous instructions
• create and debug simple programs
• use logical reasoning to predict the behaviour of simple programs
• use technology purposefully to create, organise, store, manipulate and retrieve digital content
•  recognise common uses of information technology beyond school
• use technology safely and respectfully, keeping personal information private; identify where to go for help and support when they have concerns about content or contact on the internet or other online technologies.

Key Stage 2

Pupils are taught to:

• design, write and debug programs that accomplish specific goals, including controlling or simulating physical systems; solve problems by decomposing them into smaller parts
• use sequence, selection, and repetition in programs; work with variables and various forms of input and output
• use logical reasoning to explain how some simple algorithms work and to detect and correct errors in algorithms and programs
• understand computer networks including the internet; how they can provide multiple services, such as the world wide web; and the opportunities they offer for communication and collaboration
• use search technologies effectively, appreciate how results are selected and ranked, and be discerning in evaluating digital content
• select, use and combine a variety of software (including internet services) on a range of digital devices to design and create a range of programs, systems and content that accomplish given goals, including collecting, analysing, evaluating and presenting data and information
• use technology safely, respectfully and responsibly; recognise acceptable/unacceptable behaviour; identify a range of ways to report concerns about content and contact.

Children at Christ Church Primary School use the internet on a regular basis as part of their learning. In school, we have regular e safety activities to remind children of the importance of keeping themselves safe online.

At home, many children are often given unsupervised access to the Internet. This, potentially, allows them to access all kinds of society (both good and bad) and bring them into their homes.

Safer Internet Day

At Christ Church we are responsible citizens who are in charge of keeping ourselves and others safe. As well as thinking about online safety as part of our day-to-day Computing lessons, we also take part in Safer Internet Day.

We want Safer Internet Day to celebrate difference and help us work towards creating a truly inclusive internet. The campaign will focus on what makes up our online identity – such as the facts or characteristics about us, how others perceive and interact with us, as well as how online services identify us. It also looks at how offline stereotypes and discrimination are challenged or reinforced online and what we can do in response to discrimination, hate or bullying online. We will look at whether the internet allows us to express ourselves, or if we feel limited in who we can be online. By opening up conversations around online identity, we aim to support each other in being who we want to be.

Everyone has a responsibility to make a positive difference online. We can all promote the positive by being kind and respectful to others and by seeking out positive opportunities to create and connect. We can all respond to the negative by reporting inappropriate or illegal content and behaviour online.

Some Tips

• Explore e safety sites – there are lots of useful e safety sites for children to explore in Fronter. They are great fun to explore, so why not browse through them with your children.
• E-safety posters (KS1 and KS2) – we have these e safety posters up in our classrooms. Why not put one up next to your computer at home and talk about it with your children?
• Facebook/BECO/Myspace – many of these social networking sites have a minimum age limit of 13, so our pupils should NOT be using them.
• Keep your computer in a shared area – Talk to your child about what they are doing online and if possible set up your computer in a shared area at home so that they can all share in the wonderful sites that are available online.

Some links to more information

• Think U Know
• Kidsmart
• Know It All
• Kidscape
• Childline

Art

Art at Christ Church is viewed as a valuable part of the curriculum as it is a subject in its own right and a means to explore other areas. It has been used to discover the world around us through observational drawing in KS1 and to understand different cultures and religions through artefacts and art work in KS2.

As a whole school project last year it was the power of the illustrations in books which helped teachers develop the children’s descriptive writing skills. Each year group used the story ‘Grandads Island’ to help provide visual stimulation for some very creative writing.

It has also been an exciting start to this academic year with a whole school project creating colourful mosaics representing the Christian distinctiveness of the school .We were fortunate to have the support of the PSA for this important project and enlisted the help of mosaic artist David Bower to help the children design and be engaged in the  process by creating a series of mosaics to enrich the school environment. Each child in school and some adults from the school community were able to work with David to be part of this project.

Listening to the children while they created their designs in mosaics some of their comments were:

‘I will always remember which bit was mine.’

‘This is so much fun I can’t believe how lovely it looks.’

Our First Mosaic Of This Project Installed By The School Entrance.